NATIONAL HELLENIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION
INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGY, MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY & BIOTECHNOLOGY
Press Release
Unraveling the drug-resistance mechanisms in tumor cells
07.02.2017
Understanding the complex pathways involved in cancer pathogenesis and progression
seems to be essential for improvement in cancer therapy field. Guided by this notion,
the last 15 years researchers of the Institute of Biology, Medicinal Chemistry and
Biotechnology (IBMCB) at the National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF) in
collaboration with the Department of Clinical Therapeutics, University of Athens Medical
School and the Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute,
Harvard Medical School have studied the DNA repair mechanisms of tumor cells in
order (a) to produce new scientific knowledge on the molecular pathways implicated in
the pathogenesis and progression of cancer, and (b) to translate this knowledge into
novel, selective and effective tools for the early diagnosis and prognosis of the disease,
as well as the prediction of the clinical outcome of therapy.
Recently, using as a model multiple myeloma (the second most commonly diagnosed
hematologic malignancy) the partners of this consortium published data on the
mechanisms underlying different responses of cancer patients to DNA damaging drugs.
Two main findings were reported. First, significant differences in the DNA repair
capacity of tumor cells were observed between patients who responded and those who
did not respond to common anticancer drugs. Second, inhibition of the cellular DNA
repair machinery using specific small molecule inhibitors offers a promising strategy
toward improvement of existing anticancer regimens.
Since the analyses were conducted on tumor cells obtained from patients prior to any
therapeutic treatment, these data form the basis for personalized medicine
NATIONAL HELLENIC RESEARCH FOUNDATION
INSTITUTE OF BIOLOGY, MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY & BIOTECHNOLOGY
strategies through selection of those patients who are more likely to benefit
from the subsequent therapeutic treatment.
Importantly, these findings can be extended broadly to different cancers since
aberrant DNA repair mechanisms characterize many types of cancer, causing disease
progression and drug-resistance.
Article Reference:
“DNA repair of myeloma plasma cells correlates with clinical outcome: the effect of the
nonhomologous end-joining inhibitor SCR7”
Maria Gkotzamanidou, Evangelos Terpos, Christina Bamia, Nikhil C. Munshi, Meletios A.
Dimopoulos, and Vassilis L. Souliotis
Blood 128, 1214-1225 (2016).
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2016-01-691618
http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/128/9/1214.long?sso-checked=true
Contact for NHRF:
Dr. Vassilis L. Souliotis
Email: [email protected]
Tel.: +30 210 7273734
Institute of Biology, Medicinal Chemistry and Biotechnology (IBMCB)
National Hellenic Research Foundation (NHRF)
48 Vassileos Constantinou Avenue, Athens 11635